Libera me
Wendy M. Grossman,
net.wars,
Jun 18, 2021
This post describes an unusual migration that took place in the world of Inter-Relay Chat (IRC) recently. An IRC server managed by volunteers to help with Linux support went through a series of ownership changes and ended up in private hands. As a result, most of the volunteers resigned, accusing the new owner of executing a hostile takeover and set up Libera as an alternative. Because IRC is open source, they were able to create an exact clone of the original site, including the history, groups, and all the other data. But while the incident points to the advantage of open source and open networks, it also points to the fragility of the network as a whole, because where possible private owners will try to take over and monetize public infrastructure.
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